Blue Lane

Location

Country: USA
City: New York
Place: UK Mission to the United Nations

With its neat hedgerows, 'Blue Lane' is an idyllic countryside scene, but its colours have been altered to suffuse the image in a milky pale blue tone. This is characteristic of Graham Crowley's work, in which he saturates colours to heighten the emotional character of a scene. Based around west Cork, Ireland, where Crowley often visits, his images reflect the area's atmospheric light. As many of the houses there are painted in bright lilac and blue, they contrast with the landscape. This timeless rural idyll is countered by the telephone lines, and TV aerials of modern life.

Graham Crowley was born in Romford, Essex, in 1950. After obtaining his BA at St Martin’s School of Art, he studied for an MA at the Royal College of Art, where he later became a visiting lecturer. He taught widely at such institutions as the British School in Rome and Goldsmiths College before becoming the Head of Painting at the Royal College of Art in 1998. He was shortlisted for the Jerwood Prize in Painting in 2002. Crowley’s work is exhibited widely and is represented in numerous international public collections, including the British Council and the Auckland Art Gallery, in New Zealand.

Places

Ireland, County Clare

Subjects

landscape C20th, winter, snow, field, hedgerow, gate, lane (as Subject), house, chimney

Materials & Techniques

canvas, oil, oil painting

Artist

Graham Crowley (1950 - )

Title

Blue Lane

Date

2003-2004

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

height: 91.80 cm, width: 114.50 cm

Acquisition

Purchased from Beaux Arts, April 2005

Inscription

verso, l: G Crowley ; verso on stretcher cross-bar: BLUE / LANE

Provenance

Beaux Art, London

GAC number

18010